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View Full Version : Scale model show and WWII veterans panel at the AirVenture Museum this coming weekend



Zack Baughman
09-26-2011, 08:25 AM
Just a reminder, the inaugural "EAA ScaleVenture" model contest and show is this weekend, Saturday October 1 at the EAA AirVenture Museum! This is your opportunity to showcase your modeling skills at one of the world's finest aviation museums (in my humble opinion). Registration is $20 for adults, $10 for ages 11-17, and free for ages 10 and under. Registration includes entry of up to five models for the contest ($1 for each additional), a commemorative ScaleVenture t-shirt (limited while supplies last), and an opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the museum's artifact and archives areas as well as get inside some of the museum's aircraft collection on Friday September 30 from 5pm to 9pm. This special tour is available to registered contest participants only for an extra $5.

In addition to the model contest, the museum is hosting a special World War Two veterans panel on Saturday from 2pm to 4pm. Among the confirmed panelists include:

• William Bergner, who was a B-17 Flying Fortress radar operator and technician with the 327th Bomb Squadron of the 92nd Bomb Group, 8th Air Force. Grounded by the squadron flight surgeon while in England, Bergner spent the duration of his overseas tour installing and repairing radar sets in B-17s.
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• William Hartshorn, who was a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter pilot assigned to the 61st Fighter Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force. He was shot down on his 26th mission on Sept. 18, 1944, while flying in support of Operation Market Garden.

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• William Meier, who was a B-17 Flying Fortress bombardier assigned to the 413th Bomb Squadron of the 96th Bomb Group, 8th Air Force.
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We hope you will join us for this fun-filled weekend of the smaller side of aviation and stories from a few of the men that inspired us to build models in the first place!

Zack

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Zack Baughman
09-28-2011, 01:57 PM
Since I last posted, I've had four more veterans confirm their attendance for the WWII Veterans Panel Discussion on Saturday. In addition to Bill Bergner, Bill Hartshorn, and Bill Meier, we will also have Vic Bast, who flew P-47s with Bill Hartshorn in the 61st Fighter Squadron of the 56th Fighter Group; Chet Gardeski, who was a B-17 flight engineer with the 422nd Bomb Squadron of the 305th Bomb Group; John Gibbons, who was a B-17 pilot with the 350th Bomb Squadron of the "Bloody Hundredth" 100th Bomb Group; and John Rosenberg, who was a B-24 tail gunner with the 526th Bomb Squadron of the 392nd Bomb Group. It will be a fantastic event and I hope some of you can come.